Astros sign three prospects from Venezuela with an assist from Jose Altuve

Jose Altuve worked out with teenage prospects in his home country of Venezuela a couple times over the offseason.

“He’s on the field with them and hitting,” Astros director of international Oz Ocampo said of Altuve. “Obviously the Astros have had a long history in Venezuela. He’s also been a big selling point for the organization cause he came out of our program in Venezuela.”

Money matters most when it comes to signing teenage prospects and usually most anyone else, but perhaps Altuve helped the Astros’ sales pitch.

“I was in the middle of the tryouts with those guys, by catching ground balls, swinging and running, and I can talk to them about how our organization is, why they should come over here,” Altuve said. “I really enjoy doing that because I saw the talent and I saw maybe five, six years from now that they might be in the big leagues.”

With more allotted money in the international market than any other team, the Astros finalized deals with three Venezuelan players on Wednesday, the first day of the 2014-15 international signing period. In a press release, the team called its investment in the market historically large, but did not provide specifics or the context of the investment.

Right-handed pitcher Franklin Perez (born Dec. 6, 1997) and shortstop Miguelangel Sierra (born Dec. 2, 1997) and catcher Brandon Benavente, all 16-year-olds, will report to the team’s complex in the Dominican Republic. They won’t play in league games until 2015. All three were tied to the club leading into the period.

Per international expert Jesse Sanchez, Perez and Sierra will receive $1 million signing bonuses, while Benavente will receive $250,000. Jeff Luhnow, a third-year GM, has not previously given a seven-figure signing bonus in the international market. The Astros have $5,015,400 in their allotment, which teams can exceed, with penalties.

The Astros opened up the first baseball academy in Venezuela in 1989.

“The Astros have the most successful history in Venezuela, signing the most players that have made it to the big leagues and a lot of big star names,” Luhnow said.

Asked if the Astros have the same presence in the Dominican Republic, Luhnow indicated that country brought stiffer competition.

“We have signed a lot of good players out of the Dominican Republic and we want to continue to,” Luhnow said. “Last year most of our signings were focused in Dominican, there will be some this year that we’re really excited about. There are 30 clubs that operate aggressively in Dominican. Everybody has a scouting presence in Venezuela, but not as many, there aren’t that many academies and there isn’t that much as there is in Dominican. But we’re doing our best to capture our fair share of Dominican players and there’s a lot of them and we’re going to make sure that we’ve got our share.”

Perez, 6-4, 200 pounds, hails from Valencia and is a product of former big leaguer Carlos Guillen’s academy. Ocampo, in the team’s press release, called Perez a blue-chip talent and said he “checks all the boxes in terms of what we look for in a frontline starter.”

“Perez has a chance to be a power arm,” wrote Baseball America’s Ben Badler. “He throws 88-91 mph but has the big, physical frame that leads scouts to believe he will throw in the mid-90s or higher within a few years. He delivers his fastball with strong finish and steep downhill plane.”

Sierra is 6-1, 165 pounds, and a native of Altagracia de Orituco.

“The wiry, thin-boned Sierra is one of the most fundamentally sound players available, especially in the field,” Badler wrote. “He positions himself well, gets good reads off the bat and has fluid actions with his hands and footwork.

“Some scouts see a comfortable swing and a player who takes good at-bats with contact skills, while others think Sierra’s stroke tends to get uphill and believe the bat will need time to catch up to his defense.”

Benavente, 5-10, 200 pounds, comes from Caracas. A righthanded hitter, Badler wrote that Benavente’s defense is considered behind his bat. Good receiving skills could help him stay at catcher but he has to keep his weight in check.